1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates to a timer player device in a disk player such as a CD (compact disk) player.
This invention also relates to a random reproducing system for a multi-disk player.
2. Background Of The Invention
The timer play function of a conventional CD player is such that, when the power switch is turned on, the pieces of music recorded on the CD disk are automatically selected and played beginning with the first piece of music.
As described above, in the conventional CD player's timer play function, the pieces of music recorded on a disk are played one after another beginning from the first piece of music at all times. It is monotonous for the operator to listen to the same piece of music every time the disk is played by timer play.
In a reproducing system for a multi-disk player, a plurality of disks are accommodated and the disks thus accommodated are successively played. One type of such a multi-disk system is a so-called "random reproducing system" in which a random number is obtained to select one of a plurality of pieces of music recorded on a disk so that a plurality of pieces of music are played in an order that is set at random. In the random reproducing system, a random number determining method is employed in which a count pulse having an extremely short period is supplied to a counter, and the output data of the counter is latched with timing independent of the count pulse, to thereby obtain the random number.
On the other hand, there has been proposed a method in which a timer or the like is used so that, after the power switch is turned on, the random reproducing operation is automatically started. However, the method suffers from a difficulty that since the time interval which lapses from the time instant that the counting operation of the counter is started until the output data of the counter is latched is determined by regular electronic operations in predetermined program steps. Therefore, the output data of the counter provided immediately after the power switch is turned on is constant which adversely affects the desired random effect.